Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob school, Antwerp. Collection

Contact Kazerne Dossin Documentation Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu Contact Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob school, Antwerp, principal Moses Mund, info@jhbj.be Provisional inventory available at the Kazerne Dossin documentation center This collection contains prewar, wartime and postwar parts of the administrative archive of the Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob school in Antwerp. KD_00037_0001 : General documents regarding expenses and teaching staff, letters with blessings by Isaac Herzog, chief rabbi of Israel, and Eliezer Silver, rabbi of Ohio, promotional leaflets, speeches and magazines of the parent association and the pupils. KD_00037_0002 : Attendance lists of the teachers, 1934-1966 KD_00037_0003 : Attendance lists of the pupils, 1941-1983 KD_00037_0004 : Student count based on the municipal register, 1936-1960 KD_00037_0005 : Individual file cards of students, containing remarks regarding their studies and their behavior, 1937-1981. This folder is only accessibla at the Kazerne Dossin documentation centre. KD_00037_0006 : Lists of student grades divided per class, 1933-1960 KD_00037_0007 : Programs of the awards ceremonies containing honors lists, 1929-1961 KD_00037_0008 : Group photos of students and teachers, 1920-1982 No name index has yet been created for this collection. Jesode Hatora in Antwerp is the oldest Jewish religious boy school in Belgium, founded around 1894, by Hersch Krengel. The school had probably started as a cheder, around 1885, where during a few hours a week boys attending public schools in Antwerp attended religion class. From 1894 Jesode Hatora was an institute offering a complete educational and religious learning program. In 1920 the school was officially recognised by the Belgian Ministry of Education, but it remained a boys school. In 1936 a department for girls, Beth Jacob, was founded, which in its turn was recognized by the Belgian government in 1937. In the second half of the 1930s Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob were flooded by children of Jewish refugees from nazi-Germany and Austria. The number of students rose to almost 1,000. Due to the invasion in May 1940, Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob briefly closed their doors. At the reopening a few weeks later, only 500 students remained. The others had fled Belgium. In December 1941, when Jewish children of school age were forbidden to attend non-Jewish schools, the number of students rose again. Also, Jewish teachers who were expelled from non-Jewish schools in October 1940 were appointed at Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob. The school was closed after the anti-Jewish raids in Antwerp in August 1942. In August 1945 Jesode Hatora reopened, teaching 17 pupils. The school became one of the beacons of the rebuilding of Jewish life in Antwerp Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob kept growing as the number of pupils grew to over 1,000 in 1964. Until today, the institute remains a pillar of Jewish education in Belgium.